Fourth Crusade mustering begins at Venice

1201

Knights from France and Flanders trickled into the Venetian lagoon expecting ships to Egypt. The doge Enrico Dandolo, ancient and blind, had built them a fleet they could not pay for, a debt that would steer their swords toward Christian cities instead of Muslim ones. The greatest misadventure in crusading history was already taking shape on the waters of the Adriatic.